An Update on the Jihad in Thailand

In the early days of this blog, that article was one of our most popular, perhaps because most folks had no idea that thousands of people had been killed since 2004 in an Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand.

Here we are over two and a half years later and the insurgency in Thailand is still going on. In fact, it’s getting worse. The Thais seem to be trying the same strategy and tactics that have failed elsewhere in the world: appeasement, accommodation and throwing money at the problem after blaming the violence on a bad economy.

The Jihadis are getting more sophisticated. They are making greater use of powerful IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). This is no coincidence. The terrorists didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to put bombs under and alongside roads. Someone is training them. And if the region is so impoverished, then someone is funding them. Obviously, it follows that someone is providing training as well. All of this after indoctrination in mosques. Thai authorities deny these realities at their peril.

For more background on this, check out our previous posts on the war in southern Thailand…

Particularly note this quote from one of our previous posts:

Note that the Thai Jihadists have never made any public statements since the violence started back in 2004. 4,000 people have been killed in the insurgency, but no demands have been issued and no goals announced. This is classic Jihadist warfare. They are not fighting because they want something from the non-Muslims or the government. They are fighting a war of elimination…

Now compare that to this passage from an article published this week by the Christian Science Monitor:

Among the detainees at the army base was a 30-something Muslim man who gave his name as Amatsydee. Sitting on a bed in his cell, he patiently explained, in passable Thai, that he had been detained because the authorities accuse him of assisting a “group of bad people.”

Asked about the reason for insurgent attacks in the region, “I don’t know how to say it,” he said, looking up at a burly guard standing beside him. “My Thai isn’t very good.”

Anyone else see a pattern here?

Here is the update on the violence in Thailand from the Christian Science Monitor in an article entitled “Muslim insurgency in Thailand’s restive south heats up.”